Without a prayer

Hurrying along the tourist crowded street, Danela kept her head down, but stopped occasionally to clandestinely look into shop windows, checking to see if the Sampas were following her.

A quick glance at her watch told her the Sampas were arriving at Vivian’s empty shop, and she needed to get away without drawing attention to herself. On the verge of panic, she knew that Vivian and Pauley had discovered her deception. Faced with them, or Tomas, she was screwed wherever she turned. There was nowhere safe to escape.

When her phone buzzed she let out a startled squeal, as if stung by a wasp. Ducking into an alley, she looked at the caller ID. Torn between answering Vivian’s call and continuing to run, Danela held the phone close to her chest to muffle the sound.

Closing her eyes, she ran through worse case scenarios if she told Vivian everything. Making her decision, she held out her phone only to see she missed the call, and it had gone to voice mail. Tears sprang to her eyes, fearing she lost her chance to get free of the Sampas. Peering around the corner of the alley, Danela slipped deeper into the darkness, waiting for her heart to calm.

Her inner conflict forced Danela to come to a harsh conclusion. She believed she had a better chance of survival with Vivian and Pauley, than trying to navigate the shark-infected waters of the Sampas. Once her cooperation was no longer valuable, Danela knew she would be eliminated.

Kneeling behind a pile of debris, she keyed in her voice mail to listen to Vivian’s message. Holding the phone close to her ear, she turned the volume down to where she could barely hear, shielding the sound with both hands.

“Sweet Danela, it’s me. Call me back as soon as possible, it’s important. I’ll be at the store later than I thought. Bye.”

As soon as she heard the click of the connected call, Danela breathed, “proteja-me por favor, Sampas querem matar-me.”

Bowing her head in defeat, she tucked in deeper behind her shelter, listening to Vivian’s reply. Fighting tears again, she described where she was hiding. Ending the call, Danela sat on the alley floor, pushing up against the back wall.

Reciting prayers of protection from her childhood, Danela also asked forgiveness for betraying her brother Artur and boyfriend Marco. Turning against the Sampas was surely a death sentence for them both, unless she could convince them to join her mutiny.

Across town, Vivian hung up her end of the call with Danela.

“We need to take a ride,” she said, turning to the other two women. “You’ll need to take your gun with you.”

Hiking up the hem of her skirt to expose her thigh holster, Pauley patted her Walther p22, “it never leaves my side. Where are we going?”

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